Do Latter-day Saints believe in Palm Sunday and Holy Week?
(Read this article in Français) A few years ago at Church, I welcomed everyone with a greeting of “Welcome to Church, have a good Palm Sunday.” Repeatedly I was asked, “What is Palm Sunday?” I was shocked, so I asked a member of the Bishopric “Please tell me you know what Palm Sunday is?” The reply saddened me. “Yes, it is a Catholic Holiday.” I was so sad, I love Holy Week, but instead of complaining, I am trying to fix the problem. My hope is to clear up some misunderstandings about Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. Because, yes, Latter-day Saints do in fact believe in and celebrate these Holy Days. We just observe them slightly differently than most Christians.
Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday marks the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus Christ. As he entered the city He was welcomed with shouts of hosanna and with people holding palm branches, hence the phrase “Palm Sunday.” In St John, it is recorded.
12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
John 12:12-13 (KJV).
In 2016 for Palm Sunday, many members attended the Dedication of the Provo City Center Temple, in which they waved a white handkerchief and participate in the Hosanna Shout symbolic of the triumphal entry. This is one of the many ways Latter-day Saints observe Palm Sunday. Also, multiple Latter-day Saint scholars have dated the First Vision to Palm Sunday, March 26th, 1820. And in the words of a living Apostle, Deiter F. Uchtdorf.
The Holy Week
We believe in the biblical account of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. And we observe them in our families, by reading the stories, and in the church by learning about Christ, and partaking of the Sacrament (communion). The church encourages us to share the gospel and to focus on Jesus Christ. The Church has also made a Holy Week interactive website called Holy Week detailing each day of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday all the way to Easter Morning. With brief information about each day.
The 7 days from Palm Sunday through Easter Morn are the most important 7 days in the history of humanity. They’re the events surrounding the Atonement and the redemption of all mankind. In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland, a living Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ: “As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear.”
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.
This is the video they made in conjunction with his message about Holy Week.
Conclusion
Like Christians around the world, we believe in the biblical accounts of Holy Week! We worship as did the early saints, as we strive to follow the practices of Apostolic Christianity. We believe in Jesus Christ, we believe that He lived, atoned, died, and was resurrected and that because of Him we will live again! Join us in sharing the good news of this Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and that Easter Morning came! I invite you to listen to this Palm Sunday message from President Russell M. Nelson, the prophet on the earth today.
Mark
Saturday 6th of May 2017
Please pardon the delayed response to your blog post shared by an acquaintance on Facebook. I read this on the day it was posted but simply didn't have time then to reply.
Palm Sunday is a tradition started by the Catholic church...that is a fact. https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=105.
It is a tradition that has spread to the subsequent variations/branches of churches that split off of the Catholic church, and many christian denominations do celebrate it, but not all.
To me, the question "Does [insert denomination name here] believe in Palm Sunday," is rather an odd question. People don't "believe" in dates on the calendar. People "believe" in doctrine and principles, and in Jesus Christ, the author of those doctrines and principles.
Asking that question is like asking "Do you believe in St. Patrick's Day." Or "April Fools Day" or "Flag Day" or "The 4th of July." We don't "believe" in dates on a calendar. For religions that do believe in Christ, Palm Sunday, per se, is simply a fact -- it is the day of His entry into Jerusalem on that donkey....as prophesied by Zechariah. And since Mormon's believe in Christ, they tacitly must accept that the tradition commonly known as Palm Sunday represents that Sunday when that event occurred.
But to suggest or assert that Mormon's "celebrate" Palm Sunday is false. I've been a member of the Church my entire life and I have never witnessed nor heard of any instance in which that calendar date was "celebrated" in any specific or intentional way. Clearly it is referenced in our speech because that day label is used around the world as the "name" for that moveable feast date. We celebrate Easter and Christmas in very intentional and specific ways...with traditional routines and practices; and we commonly greet our fellow members with salutations of "Happy Easter" and "Merry Christmas."
Many locations also celebrate the 24th of July, Pioneer Day, but not all, and it is not a doctrinally mandated date of observance...it is just a "tradition." The coincidence that General Conference fell on Palm Sunday in 2017, and that President Uchtdorf mentioned it by name in his talk is not, and should not be posited as, a substantiation of some notion that "we believe" in Palm Sunday as if it were a routine, patterned, mandated date of "celebration" in the Church. Nor did he use the word celebrate in his remarks. He said, "On this Palm Sunday, let us remember.... in order to bear witness of the divinity, mission, and importance of the Savior of the world."
Last year on Palm Sunday, no Sunday School teacher in the LDS Church gave a "Palm Sunday lesson" and nobody was assigned to give a "Palm Sunday talk" in Sacrament Meeting. Nor will that happen next year, or any year thereafter.
Do Mormon's believe that the date traditionally known in the Christian world as Palm Sunday happened? Of course! It is a fact. It was a date in history that occurred...on the 'first day of the week' which is called Sunday -- and we do in fact "celebrate" every Sunday on the calendar..
It is my opinion that spreading the sentiment here in your blog that members of the Mormon church are somehow flawed because they don't walk around the halls of the meeting houses on that day each year greeting others with "Happy Palm Sunday" expressions is what is saddening. It is a false narrative.
In my opinion, your point made in this post is petty meddling with no purpose other than to stir up something over which to raise discord that you could use to opine bit of an rather obscure point.
The term "Holy Week" with capital letters is also not a formal Mormon concept. Those words are not capitalized in Elder Holland's talk you quoted. I've often heard it referred to as passion week. Good Friday is also not a day we "celebrate" either. That is a concept and date also created by the Catholic church. I personally have no problem whatsoever with those traditions and date labels, and as far as I know, neither does the LDS Church.
I think you could have written all the good stuff above (bearing witness of the live of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, without straining to paint a negative image of a Bishop (or other Ward members) because he gave you an answer that didn't fit your narrative of the day. His answer was more reasonably accurate. It is a day/date created or labeled by the Catholic church...that is a fact. It is "celebrated" in very specific ways in that Church, but it is NOT celebrated in the LDS Church in a similar fashion...not now, not earlier in Church history, and there is no indication that it will be in the future.
Jeremy
Saturday 6th of May 2017
The Catholic Church was not founded until after 300 AD. Under the order of the Emperor, therefore Palm Sunday preceded Catholics by OVER 300 years. Any honest historian can explain the formation of the Catholic Church was 300 years posthumous of Christ.
The current Apostles and Prophet have spoken about it, referencing it, and telling us to remember it. Now, HOW WE celebrate Palm Sunday is different than the rest of Christianity. But that does not mean we celebrate it any less. Does someone having/not having a Christmas Advent calendar make their Christmas worship any less or more?
Peggy
Tuesday 11th of April 2017
nose**
Peggy
Tuesday 11th of April 2017
If Jesus was a Jew wouldn't he have dark eyes, dark skin and a more prominent nots?
Jeremy
Tuesday 11th of April 2017
Something you will notice is that whoever paints Christ paints Him as their own ethnicity. Greeks paint Jesus as if he were Greek, Blacks paint Black Jesus. None of us truly know what He looks like.